Rubber heel



H. L. BEAL.

RUBBER HEEL.

APPLICAT 2,1919- 7 I 1,364,023. Patented Dec. 28, 19.20., v

Fig.2

Fig 5 I L F1294 Fig-5 Mine 5 s' I nozzgntor I I )BQZJzYam 1 W provement in rubber heels.

UNITED; STATES HERMAN 1.. BEAL, or BRooKILm MASSACHUSETTS. I

RUBBER HEEL.

Application filed October 22, .1919. Serial No. 332,493;

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN .L. BEAL, a citizen of the United States; residing at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rubber Heels; and I do hereby declare the fol lowing to be a full, clear,'and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to an im- Theobject of the invention is to producean improved shape of rubber heel, and to this end the invention consists in the rubber heel hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims.

In rubber heels of spherical shape secured to the shoe heel by nails, the tendency of the heel to resume its original spherical shape after having been nailed on the shoe heel exerts a pull upon the nails by which'the heel is attached to the shoe heel, and in some cases this pull is so great as to loosen the nails and pull them more or less out of the shoe heel as the rubber heel arches away therefrom. This is especially apt to occur with heels mainly made of leatherboard or paper. It is one object of this invention to overcome this objection by making the arch of the heel less so that the heel does not require to be bent or distorted from its original shape to such an amount as has been necessitated by the shape of prior existing spherical heels. In heels of the Nerger shape, on the other hand, wherein the side edges of the heel are all located in one plane, and the breast edge only is arched, the contact has been poor at the breast corners owing to the insufiicient pressure exerted thereon. Another object of the present invention is to give the heel such curvature as to secure sufficient distortion of the heel at the breast corners to secure a tight joint between the tightly against the shoe heel. Viewed in its curvature is the greatest.

broader aspects the invention contemplates any form of heel in which thebreastcorners are arranged at an angle tothe body or main partof the heel, or turned up, whether the latter be curved or fiat, and whether the corners be curved or flat.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention Figure 1 is a plan of the heel; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the same; Fig. 4 isa side elevation of Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec, 28, 1920.

the same; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal medial seotion taken on the line 55, Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken on the line 66 Fig. 1, looking in the direction of thearrows. Referring to the accompanying drawings, the heel 1 has a concave attaching face 2 and a convex tread surface The attaching face curves upwardly in all directions from the center of the breast of the heel. From this point to the breast corners the The curvature of all transverse sections in the rear of the breast is less and less. Thus in Fig. Qthe transverse curvature at the breast is shown, and in Fig. 6 the transverse-curvature at the widest portion of the heel is shown. The latter'has less curvature than the former, and other transverse sections taken on toward the back of the heel will each have less curvature than the preceding. The longitudinal curvature of the heel is least at the center of the heel. Thus it will be seen by reference to Fig. 5 that the curvature of the medial longitudinal section is slight and the curve is flat. The longitudinal sections farther and farther toward the sides of the heel will have more and more curva ture. Referring to the longitudinal section the breast; that is, when the'heel is placed against the heel of a shoe ready for attachment, the center of the breast edge will be farthest from the heel, and that points along the longitudinal medialflline of the attaching face are each nearer and nearer to the shoe heel. The side edges as seen in Figs. 4; and 5 are longitudinally curved so that when the heel is flattened against the shoe heel greater-pressure will be caused to be exerted upon the shoe heel by the breast corners than the body of the heel. The longitudinal curvature of the side edges is, made less than the transverse curvature of tion of the heel from its original shape is 7 required to bring the edges of the heel into contact with the shoe heel at the sides than at the breast corners.

The greater transverse curvature at the breast insures a considerable pressure being exerted upon the breast corners when the heel is nailed on to the shoe heel so as thereby to hold the corners tightly against the shoe heel and to prevent their lifting or curving up therefrom as they sometimes do with over-driven nails. The lesser longitudinal curvature of the heel requires less distortion in order to bring it into contact with the shoe heel as a consequence of which the pull exerted by the heel upon the nails is very much reduced vand brought within the limit capacity which nails driven :into leatherboard or paper can successfully withstand. This conduces to the maintenance of the heel in good condition-that is to long life. The main portion of the heel is thus seen to have the curvature necessary to secure a tight edge without exerting an objectionably great strain on the nails and that the curvature at the breast corners is such as to secure tight corners.

The heel may be secured to the shoe heel by the use of embedded washers and nails or otherwise, as may be desired, as the means by which the heel is secured to the shoe heel forms no part of my invention which resides in the shape of the heel by virtue of which the heel is less likely :to become loosened from the shoe heel in use,

and is held with greater security upon the shoe heel as a result of this, and at the same time has increased pressure on the breast corners so as to prevent them from turning up from the shoe heel in the manner in which other heels sometimes act. This heel, therefore, possesses desirable qualities not possessed by any 'prior heel of which I am aware.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A rubber heel curved in longitudinal sections having :the least longitudinal curvature at the longitudinal anedial section, and more and more longitudinal curvature in longitudinal sections progressively toward each side of "the heel.

2. A rubber heel curved :in transverse and longitudinal sections having the greatest transverse curvature at the breast of the heel, and less and less transverse curvature progressively toward the rear of the heel, and having the least longitudinal curvatureat the longitudinal medial section and progressively more and more longitudinal curvature toward each side of the heel.

3. A rubber heel concavo-convex'throughout, having its breast corners of shorter radius of curvature 'than that of the body of the heel.

4. A rubber heel having breast corners turned up with respect to the body of the heel so as to cause the corners to bear with greater pressure upon the shoe heel than HERMAN L. BEAL. 

